Deviate
by LetsGoKoby
Summary: A digression from the normal, established course. A change, a variance, something that is no longer on the same path. Companion (short) drabbles to Current. 01. Crack - Sakura had thought she was ready. The blood pouring from Naruto's shoulder spoke otherwise. 02. Shatter - Sakura knew better. "Train me."
1. 01 Crack

_Crack:_

_A split in the surface of something once whole, creating a line without complete separation of parts. Can be sudden, or sharp, or due to continued pressure at one point._

Sakura had thought she was ready—_known_ she was ready. After all, they had graduated the academy and earned their hitai-ate. She was top kunoichi, praised as the smartest in their class, and on a team with Sasuke-kun who was top of their class. Even their sensei, who seemed utterly insufferable, had shown he was well worth the title of jounin.

When they had been attacked, Sasuke-kun and Kaksahi-sensei had been more than enough and she had done her job to protect the client. Sure, Naruto was almost useless, but that didn't come as a complete surprise, even if she had hoped the annoying girl's boastful comments held some truth. She was disappointed that the third genin in their team was worthless, disappointed but also determined. Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei were strong enough to handle any enemy and she could provide support, she knew it. Naruto would help where she could—the red-head's use of the kage bushin against the rogue nin had been a brief stroke of genius—but Sakura knew she would be safe with her two male teammates.

When she had been the first to climb the tree—before Sasuke-kun even!—Sakura was assured that she was trained and ready. She was _helpful_ and could be of use to them, even if they were tied up with battle. She had talent and Sakura was sure she could handle whatever came next.

She wasn't naïve, Sakura knew. The life of a kunoichi wasn't all flowers and rainbows. Iruka-sensei had made sure they all knew what shinobi were: weapons. She knew she would have to kill, that she would see others kill and attack as if human life meant nothing.

But she hadn't known, truly known at least, that her teammates might be the ones to fall. It hadn't even crossed her smart, little mind.

The blood pouring out of Naruto's shoulder spoke otherwise.

She could support her team. She could help them complete the mission and she could fight.

She had graduated, she had strong teammates, she had beaten _Sasuke_ in a training exercise. She was _ready_.

Sakura almost screamed in terror and Tazuna gasped, both of them staggering backwards.

What had happened? What was _happening_? Naruto just… Did Naruto just run in front if the attack? Was she thrown? How had she gotten there? Where was Sasuke? The enemy?

Were they… talking?

But soon the blood started to fall from around Kakashi-sensei's arm and Sakura realized that was _Naruto's_ blood and there was just _so much_.

An adult's blood volume averaged anywhere from between five to six liters. Morbid curiosity had her wondering how many pints Naruto had already lost.

"You can't and you won't!"

Sakura hadn't known when she had fixated on the crimson pooling from her teammate, but Naruto's shout had her slowly lifting her head to stare. She could make out Naruto's face, caught between agony and determination, her hands pushing at their sensei's chest. Pushing him away as she screeched and raved and _bled more and more and—_

And then she felt an arm around her waist and her feet in the air and the churning in her stomach as she was sped away. She couldn't even react as a bolt of orange and silver, spitting with words aimed back towards the bridge, caught up as they fled from the bridge.

She couldn't even wonder whether their client or Sasuke were with them.

**Hey Guys!**

**This is a little drabble companion to my story, Current. Generally these are all written in one go and without beta/editing so it's more just a focus of my mind. I'll be posting parts of the story or POV of characters that help me focus my plot/characterization that didn't quite fit into the Current narrative. There will likely be a lot of Sakura or Sasuke in here, but who really knows. This is from the second chapter: Shinobi Rule #25 (obviously) and will lead up to chapter 4. I have another Sakura snip-it coming in soon, too, as I continue writing that chapter.**

**Koby Out.**


	2. 02 Shatter

_Shatter:_

_To upset greatly, to break or cause to break suddenly into many, sharp pieces. Generally irreparable._

Sakura had heard the scream, bolted up out of bed and skidding across the wooden flooring as she fell once to her knees and scrambled forward to her feet with momentum. Her knees stung, scraped and bruised in her rush, but all Sakura could feel was the pounding in her throat, the constriction of her chest. Her fingers trembling and numb.

The sight of her sensei should have made her heart calm and mind slow, but as he walked away from her without even a glance and leaving behind a door half broken in and off one of its hinges, she could feel tears already pricking at her eyes.

A strangled creak of the door's lone hinge was the only noise present when Sakura opened the door. And through it, sitting up in a bed stained with spatters of blood, was Naruto.

Naruto who looked gaunt, haunted as if death itself had been her bedfellow that night—though Sakura supposed it could have, with the still leaking blood from under the bandages on her arm and Sakura could almost see it again: her bone and tendons and muscle and _agony_—with her blood red hair slicked back with sweat and her purple eyes—wide, blown, unseeing—darting around the rooms to chase shadows unseen to Sakura herself. They eventually rested on Sakura, still standing in the doorway and unable to breath. The pinkette almost choked at what she saw in her teammate's face, an emotion misted over with confusion, before a blink and joyed smile twitched onto Naruto's lips.

"Sakura-chan," she murmured, and her eyes closed almost in peace as she laid back down to sleep as if nothing was wrong. But Sakura knew better. She had seen Naruto's eyes, the strain in her body, her blood on the sheets. A small hiccup of words—what words, Sakura didn't know and couldn't think through enough to figure out—got stuck in Sakura's throat as Naruto's breaths even out.

Sakura knew better.

Gently closing the door behind her, wincing at the way it didn't quite fit into the frame anymore, Sakura padded lightly to her teammate's bedside and slid down the wall. She stayed there, watching the rise and fall of Naruto's chest until the windows sparked with life. And then when her hands and legs got twitchy with nerves, she sought out Kakashi and demanded, "Train me."

**Hiya!**

**Off of the third chapter, Torrent, of current. More Sakura seeing as Sasuke is still passed out. Again, helping my focus my mind on where I want Sakura to be by chapter 4. It's (mostly) planned out (in my head) and so I'm working on getting it down on paper. Let's go!**

**Koby out.**


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